A Black Guy, a Priest, and a Rabbi Walk into the White House...

Mark Seliger took on the daunting task of photographing, over the course of two months, all twenty-three people in our Men of the Year portfolio—from Leo DiCaprio to Michael Phelps to the world champion Boston Celtics. There were atmospheric location shoots (Danny McBride, igniting a stuffed-animal bonfire in the woods), along with F/X extraordinary (Aaron Eckhart, fleeing a flaming automobile) and not so extraordinary: “I flew to Philly with the Obama-campaign press corps,” Seliger recalls. “On the flight, I asked an aide for two minutes with Obama. She found me a slot. When we got off the plane, I hung a white sheet in a doorway and photographed him; they actually gave me a minute and forty-five seconds.” The photographer’s impression of the candidate? “He’s got this look where you just know: That’s the guy. He’s gonna do it.”

Here, in an exclusive GQ Radio segment, Seliger gives GQ deputy editor Michael Hainey the complete backstory on the making of the Obama cover. Listen here:

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